


Want You Bad

by QueenoftheNile



Category: X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Cherik - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 16:50:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3736390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheNile/pseuds/QueenoftheNile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the song by the Offspring, Want You Bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Want You Bad

The only reason the two teens who are the subjects of these writings, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr would ever even be on the same level, was because they both attended Melior High School, during the same year.

 

Still, Charles was the popular rich kid, and Erik was just some no one.

 

They were polar opposites, Charles was pristine, whitened, pure, clean, safe, nice, and then Erik… Erik was the exact opposite of everything Charles stood for.

 

Erik was unintrigued by another rich phony who acted all la-dee-da, care, love in the community. Grade A bullshit to him.

 

The very prospect of Charles Xavier’s existence did not interest Erik in any way.

 

However, Charles didn’t feel the same way. He was completely fascinated by Erik.

 

Their first encounter was near the end of the first month of school. Charles had left the ‘Popular kids’ table and headed over to sit with a lonesome looking Erik.

 

The enthusiastic young teen had sat down right beside him without a word of warning. Erik scooted warily.

 

“If this is some kind of stupid dare again…” Erik shook his head, clearly fed up with people.

 

Charles smiled at him. “I can honestly promise you it isn’t, you just looked… Lonely.” And so he sat there, for the rest of the lunch period. Erik didn’t eat. He felt wary about the near prince sitting next to him; there had to be some reason.

 

Charles laughed, “You needn’t be so worried, I gave you my word; I have no ulterior motives for being here, I simply wanted to sit with you.”

 

Why did you want to sit with me is the real question. Erik thought, not trusting anything about the situation. It was probably the setup for some stupid practical joke.

 

Probably set up by Sebastian Shaw, the biggest bully in the school, and he had some grudge against Erik specifically.

 

Charles sighed and shook his head, before just resuming eating his lunch.

 

So the next day, Erik sat down to lunch, and Charles sat next to him again.

 

“If this is supposed to be some kind of like-” Charles cut him off.

 

“Would you please stop assuming everything I do must be some sort of scheme? Just because I have money doesn’t mean I don’t have a soul.” He grumbled, but still stayed in the seat.

 

The next few days they sat together in silence, until one day Charles joined the chess club.

 

He walked over to the table that had become their spot, with the bulky board under his arm.

 

“Would you like to play a round?” Charles suggested.

 

Erik had grown accustomed to his presence, but still didn’t like the idea of… General human interaction.

 

On the other hand though, Charles would probably continue to ask him about it. With a surrendering sigh, he turned sideways on the bench. “So, how, exactly, um… Does the game work?” He mumbled.

 

Charles just smiled and explained the rules cheerfully.

  
  


So the next day they played chess, but they moved outside. They decided there wasn’t enough time during lunch to play, so they started hanging out after school to. At first there wasn’t a lot of talking, until Erik slowly decided Charles wasn’t trying to trick him, and they became more comfortable.

 

It started off as just chess, but they eventually started hanging out just to hang out, of course, they still did play chess.

 

The fall from the start of the school year faded into winter, until christmas break came.

 

They were packing up from the park which was now their ‘chess spot’, when Charles asked a question that seemed so harmless, but to Erik also seemed very pressuring, as he had been casually throwing it out for a while, in sentences like, “Oh, it’s weird you never met my parents…” Or, “Hahah, you should totally meet my parents sometime…”

 

“So, Erik, well since it’s winter break now, maybe you could come on over to my house.” It seemed like a friendly suggestion, something that would have happened millions of times if they were friends, but there was one thing Charles didn’t know; Erik had been avoiding that.

 

Something about going to Charles’ house just made him uncomfortable, and he understood exactly why, damn psychology class; seeing the conditions under which Charles lived would force him to actually face the fact that he and Charles were from two different worlds.

 

He shifted uncomfortably, “Yeah, at-at-at some point…” He nodded.

 

Charles set his stuff back down and plopped to the ground next to Erik.

 

“Okay.” He said simply.

 

Erik made a face, “‘Okay’ what?” He asked, confused.

 

“If you don’t want to go to my house, than we won’t go to my house; that simple.” He laid back in the grass.

 

Erik laid back too, feeling much more comfortable since he no longer felt peer pressured.

 

They kept up their cat and mouse with Erik intending to go to Charles’ mansion, but not going.

 

They went to the park almost every day after school or just whenever. This kept up over the summer and into the next school year at Melior.

 

They grew closer, as Charles set more and more apart from his other friends.

 

It was the next winter break, when Erik went to their spot in the park to find Charles yelling into his phone, before hanging up and slumping against the tree, pressing back tears.

 

Erik rushed to his side, “Charles? What happened?” He sat next to him, putting an arm over the younger teens shoulder. Charles just shook his head.

 

So Erik just held him there, under the tree, until he was done crying.

 

Then he asked him hesitantly, “Charles, do you want to tell me what’s wrong? If you don’t it’s none of my business-”

 

“It’s my mother.” Charles voice was hollow. “She’s dead.” Erik sat back slightly, not taking his arms from around the smaller boy.

 

Guilt rushed over him; all of the times he had ditched out on going to Charles’ house, meeting his parents. He felt awful, but he was sure that Charles felt worse, so he swallowed his own stupid emotions.

 

“I am so sorry…” Erik had no idea what he could even say to someone at this point, so he went with the most impulsive, irrational thing he had probably ever done, but he had wanted to do it for so long, without even realising it; he pulled Charles’ chin up, and pressed his lips firmly to the younger teen’s.

 

To his surprise, he didn’t feel any kind of objection from Charles, who wrapped his hand around the back of Erik’s head, pressing them closer together.

 

It was probably the most amazing good twenty seconds, of Erik’s life- it was amazing. It was the first person he had ever kissed, and it was the only person he ever wanted to.

 

As they pulled back, he blurted something he hadn’t intended on telling anyone ever; “I’m a mutant!” Did I just fuck up our entire friendship?

 

He pursed his lips, slowly opening his eyes to see a strangely unaffected Charles. “I know.” He said.

 

Erik frowned, seriously confused now. “Wait, how could you possibly-”  

 

Charles shrugged, “So am I. I am a telepath.” he explained.

 

Erik widened his eyes. “Wait, what?!” He ran his hands down his face, suddenly making so many connections.

 

He shook his head. “Of co-of course you are…” He shook his head, “It was really obvious, looking back… Wow, Charles Xavier, famed multi-billionaire, is a telepath, only the neatest, prettiest little mutant you could be…” Suddenly, Erik realised what that meant for him. “Than you know… Everything… Oh my God…” Erik leaned back against the tree.

 

Charles nodded, “And yet, I stuck around…” Charles smirked at him.

 

Erik ran his hands through his hair, trying to process everything that had just happened.

 

Charles obviously had everything figured out, as usual.

 

He grabbed Erik’s chin, forcing him to look at the smaller teen. “Erik, if I show you something, my deepest, darkest secret, will you call it even since I accidentally saw most of yours?”

 

Erik thought of a sarcastic remark but swallowed it since this was obviously a serious moment. He sighed, “What?” He asked.

 

Charles closed his eyes, and his very form morphed before Erik’s eyes; “Oh my God Charles, who did this?” Erik was furious, seeing Charles was covered in bruises and scars.

 

Charles shook his head, “Trust me, going after this guy will not affect anyone positively, namely my mother.” He clenched his jaw, looking down for a moment.

 

Erik realised how insensitive he had been, through their entire friendship.

 

Charles didn’t just have a thing about being touched, it physically pained him.

  
  
  


Erik was feeling like more of a shitty person the longer this day went on. Then he realised something; they had kissed. He had kissed Charles Xavier. That thought stayed with him all through the night, invading his dreams, constantly bombarded with the what the hell’s and what’s wrong with me’s.

 

He couldn’t go out with Charles Xavier, he shouldn’t even be friends with Charles Xavier; they were from two whole other planes of existence, Charles shouldn’t even know who he was-

 

Erik, he heard Charles’ voice speaking in his mind. What are you-Charles?

 

Erik, yes, darling, you are a very loud thinker, and you keep saying my name, please, ssshhhh…

 

Erik frowned. Did Charles call him darling? But, what did that mean? He remembered Charles asking him to think quieter, or about something else.

 

…

 

The next morning, it was winter break, so they were scheduled to meet in the park, as usual, and Erik had a whole conversation planned, the awkward ‘what are we’ thing.

 

He waited anxiously, until Charles walked up the sidewalk to their spot.

 

So Erik grabbed his hand, which could be a completely platonic gesture, and ran over to the tree and sat down under the tree.

 

“So Charles, you being telepathic,” He began cheerily, but seeing Charles slightly worried expression, added, “Just play along, okay? For me?”

 

Charles rolled his eyes. “Alright then.”

 

Erik took both of his hands, “You can feel every emotion I feel right?”

 

Charles nodded obediently.

 

“So yesterday, in this spot, tell me some of the emotions you felt.” He said, still unusually cheery.

 

“Okay, well,” Charles cleared his throat, “You were, slightly confused, um, worried, upset, guilty, uh…” He shook his head, trying to think of which emotions were his and which were not.

 

Erik waited patiently, “That it?” He asked.

 

Charles shrugged, “I guess?”

 

Erik smiled his wonderful shark smile, “Well, there might be one you missed, darling.”

 

He leaned in and kissed Charles again. It was the most beautiful and amazing thing, despite logic telling him it was bad, his emotions contradicted in the most wonderful way, it was beautifully painful, and blissfully terrible.

 

Charles understood what he was talking about now, why he had said he missed an emotion, and though he hadn’t felt it before, Charles was fairly sure he knew what this terrifying emotion was; Charles Xavier was falling in love.

 

He pulled back, as logic overcame pleasure, folding his hands in his lap.

 

Pristine, white, clean, pure, perfect Charles Xavier, not bad enough for Erik.

 

Erik closed his eyes, tucking his lips back. “That was what I thought you’d say.” He took a deep breath. “Okay then. We can just be, um… Whatever we were before.”

 

“A rich boy struggling with love? Because that’s what I was before-” Charles cut himself off. “Sorry, uncalled for, yes. We can go back, just pretend all of- pretend things didn’t happen.”

 

Erik shook his head, “I’m sorry Charles, but I just- I want you bad. You know, tattooed, X-rated,” He closed his eyes, “But yeah, just pretend-stuff never happened.”

 

Only here’s the thing about the human mind; without outside assistance, the human brain can’t just pretend things of stuff didn’t happen.

 

Charles knew that, so that night he needed to make sure that they could act as if nothing had happened, “I am sorry, Erik,” He muttered under his breath as he pressed a finger to his temple and erased the ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ from Erik’s mind entirely.

 

…

 

The next day, at lunch, Erik and Charles met up as normal, they conversed, Erik had, after all this time, finally grown comfortable eating around Charles.

 

They went about their day truly as if nothing had happened. Cain called Charles over to him after school, so he didn’t wait in the normal place.

 

Erik arrived at their waiting place and waited for a few minutes, before he began pacing around the building. He turned around the corner of the steps to see Cain had Charles’ shirt collar in one hand, and the other was landing blow after blow on Charles’ face.

 

Erik was about to run and confront him when he realised something odd; no bruises. This huge kid was wailing on tiny, frail Charles, and not leaving any marks? Something tugged at the back of his mind but he couldn’t figure quite what.

 

He shook his head clear, realising a bigger problem at hand, and that problem was named Cain Marko.

 

Erik ran over to him. “Hey Cain!” He yelled.

 

Cain turned to him. “What do you want, freak?” He growled, not dropping Charles.

 

“Erik don’t…” Charles shook his head weakly.

 

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, jerkwad?!” Erik taunted.

 

So Cain half threw Charles onto the ground, and he just collapsed.

 

Only one problem; now he was heading toward Erik, “Like you, buckethead?” He smirked.

 

So they got into a fight. Cain was a big brute, but he wasn’t as fast, and Erik could still pack a punch.

 

So he weaved this way and that, managing to avoid any blows for a solid two seconds, before Cain’s foot planted in his stomach, sending him into the grass.

 

Cain began to turn back to Charles, not wanting to actually get in trouble probably.

 

“Hey… Fathead! That all you got?” Erik yelled.

 

Cain wailed on Erik more, but eventually got bored and left altogether.

 

Charles ran over to his stupid friend. “Erik, what the hell is wrong with you?!” He ran his hand through his hair.

 

“A thank you would suffice,” Erik moaned as he sat up, but as he looked at Charles, he didn’t bear a single mark from the fight. Erik frowned.

 

“Charles, what in God’s name…” He pressed the back of his hand to what should’ve been his friends badly swollen cheek.

 

Charles understood what Erik was confused about now.

 

“Oh, I um…” He cleared his throat.

 

Then it came back; at least that moment, an image of Charles morphing into a beaten, broken, scarred shell of a person.

 

“No Charles, literally, if you don’t tell  me what the hell is going on right now so help me-”

 

Charles tried to move closer, “Listen, I can expla-”

 

“Back the truck up!” Erik scooted backwards. All of his fears from when he first met Charles were returning. He had already pretty much opened up to him.

 

“Charles, if you’re gonna explain, you better do it fast or I swear-”

 

Charles cut him off by pressing his lips to the older mutants, sending back the memories from the day before.

 

Erik pulled back and scuffled backwards, so confused and offended by everything, until all of the pieces fell in and he could remember the day clearly.

 

“I shouldn’t have hidden that from you, I just wanted us to be able to go back to just being friends.” Charles looked down.

 

“Damn right you shouldn’t have hidden it from me. If you had just- we could’ve just been friends, but if you were just going to keep important things secrets from me…” Erik looked down, placing his face in his hands.

 

There was a minute of silence with Erik’s head down, before Charles asked, “Hey, Erik?”

 

Erik lifted his head, seeing that Charles was no longer blocking him from seeing the bruises and scars. “Yes?”

 

“Did I…” He sighed, “Did I entirely just fuck up our… Whatever it is, whatever we are?”

 

Erik chuckled slightly. Okay, I can only answer that question when you answer mine; see, can you make me a promise?”

 

Charles looked deeply into his eyes, nodding ever so slightly.

 

“Can you promise me, Charles, that anything you do within my head, will be completely, one hundred percent, with my knowledge and consent?” he asked, “And that includes reading my thoughts, I understand physical contact is a problem because stuff slips through and I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about specifically searching out things.”

 

Charles looked between his two eyes, “Erik Lehnsherr, I promise you this today, I will not intentionally do anything in or with your mind outside of your consent.”

 

Erik smiled, relieved. “Than no, you didn’t fuck it up; not one bit.” He leaned toward the small brunette, and just then, a small drop of water fell on his nose. He reached up to feel it, and then looked up to see they were surrounded by grey clouds.

 

“...Uh-oh…” Charles pulled his jacket up over his head and over his backpack. Erik quickly zipped his backpack and held out his hand, which Charles took- completely platonically.

 

So they ran in the rain. They couldn’t run very far, as they ran out of breath and could barely see anything.

 

Erik noticed Charles counting. “What are you-”

 

“Shhhh… one… two- okay, one- Shit, Erik, run. Run!” He didn’t let go of the taller man’s hand as he took off running, not in the direction of home though; they were running kind of sideways of it, but Erik had learned to trust his smart friend.

 

So they ran, but sadly, couldn’t outrun just what they were trying to avoid; lightning.

 

Charles was now running in front of Erik, and he headed toward a tree which had just been struck with lightning. He tripped, “Charles! Stop!” Erik didn’t know what else to do; he got on his hands and knees above the small man, hoping to soften the blow for him. Unfortunately, it didn’t word; trees are heavy.

 

He felt the immense weight hit his back and it wasn’t even a battle he just caved, crushing the younger teen beneath one tree plus one Lehnsherr.

 

He wasn’t sure how long he had been out, but when he came to, Charles was still passed out beneath him.

 

He felt an insane adrenaline rush as he pushed himself back up onto his hands and knees, with a yell, he managed to roll the huge tree off of himself and Charles.

 

He was soaking wet at this point, and as soon as his adrenaline rush faded, he felt a searing pain and was almost unable to stay up, but he needed to  make sure Charles was all right.

 

“Charles?” His voice was hoarse and raspy. He placed his hand on the bruised cheek. “Charles?! Charles wake up!” He began to tear up, “Charles you bastard you can’t be dead! You can’t be dead, because I-I-” Just then, Charles coughed and lifted his head slightly.

 

“Oh my God Charles! You-you’re-” He sighed relievedly.

 

“I am so sorry my friend,” He shook his head, “But I can’t- can’t move my legs.” He chuckled slightly, “I can’t move my legs…” He also began to tear up as well.

 

“No, no Charles you are going to be fine! You are going to be perfectly healthy again, because I love you! I do I said it and-and because of that I know you are going to be fine!”

 

“Erik,” Charles shook his head, “Your body shape with the weight of the tree together- I scarcely think I’ll ever walk again.”

 

Teary eyed, Erik shook his head, “No I- I was trying to help, I can’t have…” He ran his hand down his face, before leaning down and kissing Charles with everything he had, all of the love, pain and confusion of their very relationship, everything.

 

Charles winced, but the physical pain was worth the emotional relief.

 

So Erik half carried half dragged Charles to the closest hospital; Melior General.

 

Charles’ family was in and out, but Erik didn’t leave his side, outside of when he was forced to, and even then he paced anxiously in the waiting room.

 

It was his fault… Well, kinda. What if Charles never did walk again- or worse, never lived again. Erik may have just killed his best friend, his only friend, and the man he loved. Then it hit him; he had said the words. The words he had held for Charles for so long.

 

By the end of the day, they had officially said he was in a coma, but in stable condition. Erik sat by his hospital bed all the time, the all day, every day.

 

This gave him time to do some things Charles would have liked for him to, like he started studying Psychology, he got a diskset for chess, because Charles always seemed to beat him.

 

Charles was in the coma for three months. Erik had officially left Melior High, and devoted himself full time until Charles got better.

 

One day, he was sitting in the hospital room, holding Charles’ hand and reading a Psychology book with his free one, when he swore his grip tightened. Three months without beatings from Kurt and Cain had done miracles for him; he had told the doctors all that gunk was from the tree.

 

He put down his book as he pulled his other hand to place on top of Charles’.

 

“Charles?” He said softly.

 

Charles shot up “Erik!” He yelled, yanking his hand from Erik’s grip to reach for something/someone nonexistent.

 

“Charles! Hey, right- right here…” He grabbed Charles scarred face and turned it to his.

 

“Doctor McCoy?” He called, not breaking eye contact with Charles.

 

“Charles, you got crushed by a tree, you were in a coma, and because of me you won’t ever be able to walk again.” Erik bit his lip but kept eye contact, trying to scan Charles’ expression.

 

Erik wasn’t sure if it was accumulated skill or if it was natural, but Charles could hide his expression completely; he looked blank.

 

Erik pursed his lips. “Now did I colossally fuck up whatever it is we could’ve been?”

 

A sly grin crept onto his face as Dr.McCoy started screwing around with cords.

 

“Okay, Erik, you have to make me a promise; you have to promise me that if there is something in your mind I need to see, something I should see, than you will show it to me,, and that includes embarrassing childhood videos.”

 

Erik smiled warmy. “I, Erik Lehnsherr, promise to keep no important secrets from you.”

 

Charles leaned in and pressed his cracked lips to the dirty blonde’s.

 

…

 

So the next day, Charles and Erik both decided they weren’t going to go back to school until next year, to make everything easier.

 

Charles was now in a wheelchair, which was kind of awkward.

 

Erik could see how much he missed walking and running. About halfway through the summer, he decided there had to be some way to fix it.

 

He went to someone who he knew, who Charles was acquainted with; the only doctor Erik would ever trust with something this dangerous; doctor Henry McCoy.

 

So he went to Hank’s house, and knocked three times on the door.

 

When he opened the door, Hank was slightly confused to see Erik there.

 

“Um, yes?” He closed his eyes, waiting for Erik’s apparent trouble.

 

“Hi, Hank, um, so obviously you know about Charles?” He clasped his own hands together.

 

Hank nodded.

 

“Okay, so, I know you are a very renowned scientist, and I want your professional opinion; would it be possible to create something that would make him walk again?” He asked, biting his cheek.

 

Hank looked down. “Erik I have to tell you honestly; in doing something like this, we are spitting on mother nature, and I don’t know if there might be any kind of strange side effects when I do get it made.” He grew a sly grin.

 

“‘When’?” Erik asked, matching his grin with a shark smile.

 

Hank nodded, before stepping back and gesturing him to come in.

 

Erik stepped into the doctors house and looked around him; it was like a giant lab basically.

 

Hank gave a light hearted chuckle at Erik’s awe. “Pretty awesome, isn’t it?” He smiled.

 

So they went to the far end of the house to a small table in the back. “It may take me a while to figure out the serum, and meanwhile I want you to speak with Charles, ask him if this is what he wants, and if he is really willing to risk it, because I have no other way to test the serum than on him, and there could be terrifying side effects we didn’t even take into account…” He shook his head, “Ask him how important it is to him to walk, and if it is worth the risk in his head.”

 

Erik nodded, “I’ll speak with him.” he agreed.

 

And so that was what he did.

 

The next day he went to their spot, slightly early, so he could gather his thoughts.

 

He heard a squeaking and felt the metal in the chair, and stood and looked out to see Charles wheeling toward him. He took a deep breath, focussing on what exactly it was he was asking him.

 

Was he being selfish? Was he only thinking Charles wanted to walk because… Because he wanted Charles to walk?

 

Charles clenched his jaw, “Erik, I need to talk to you-”

 

Erik cut him off, “Wait, Charles, I need to ask you a… Strange, question.” He chewed on his lip.

 

Charles nodded, focussing on staying out of Erik’s mind, even though he was a very loud thinker.

 

“Charles, do you miss, like, walking and running and jumping and just… Do you miss your legs?”

 

Charles frowned, “Why, of course! Who wouldn’t miss…” He looked down, shaking his head and wishing Erik hadn’t said anything.

 

“You know you’re a pretty loud thinker yourself.” Erik informed him. That was when Charles realised he had been projecting.

 

Charles sighed, “I’m sorry, I am so tired. You’d be surprised how hard even the simplest task can become when you’ve no legs to assist you in doing it.” He shook his head, “And now I’m just dumping everything on you.” He looked up at Erik, “Continue with what you were saying?”

 

Erik nodded, “Okay, um, what if I told you there might be a way for your legs to work again?”

 

Charles’ eyes lit up, before he shook his head and looked closely at Erik’s face, “Erik, dear, I’m sorry but I don’t think-”

 

“Doctor Hank McCoy, he’s a scientist, and he believes he may be able to create something that would allow you to walk, but there’s a catch; he doesn’t know what side effects may be present. He needs to know how important it is to you to walk, if you are willing to take the risk.”

 

Charles reached up to cup his hands around Erik’s face, “I would gamble my life if the alternative were to spend it trapped in this chair.” He said earnestly.

 

Erik nodded solemnly. “Alright then, I will give Hank the green light, but you need to tell me any side effects so I can get them back to him.”

 

Charles frowned, “Or I can always tell him directly,” He waggled his forefingers by his temple.

 

Erik nodded, “Right, that. Now there is only one matter to attend to then; us.” He chewed on the side of his tongue.

 

Charles frowned, “I think… We should maybe try, however it pains me to say-”

 

Erik cut him off by bending down and pressing his lips to the small telepaths. And then opening his mouth.

 

Charles didn’t object, he just closed his eyes and leaned in to the kiss.

 

This lasted them a healthy twenty seconds, before Erik pulled back, instantly regretting complicating things again.

 

Charles licked his lips,”Well, that was… Unexpected.” He sighed and layed his head back until he was looking up, and then ran his hands through his hair.

 

“This doesn’t need to be complicated,” Erik realised.

 

Charles looked up at him and frowned, “Oh?” He asked.

 

Erik nodded, “You and me, we don’t need to be complicated, I mean, obviously there is something here, and we aren’t going to be able to fight it, so why not embrace and enjoy it?” He couldn’t believe the words leaving his mouth.

 

“What are you getting at there?” Charles still looked skeptical.

 

“I guess what I’m saying is…” He took a deep breath, “Charles Xavier, will you go out with me?”

 

Sixteen months they had known each other, and the words had pounded at the back of Erik’s mind, the wariness from when they first met had only been a defense mechanism built into him to avoid allowing himself to be accessed and therefore hurt.

 

Charles looked down, “Erik, I don’t know if you can even deal with my… Baggage.”

 

Erik almost burst out laughing, “Charles, darling, I am the king of baggage, and here is the thing; you are…” He shook his head, “You are Charles Xavier. You are spoiled, pristine, clean, do-gooder, beautiful, untouchable Charles Xavier, and then here’s the other thing, the thing about baggage; if we stick together, we can both lighten each others loads that way. You are clean, and you-”

 

Charles ripped a necklace Erik had never noticed before from his neck and held it out, in a clenched fist, to Erik.

 

Erik frowned. “What’s…” He held out his hand to take it, and Charles dropped a diamond ring on a twine string.

 

Erik shook his head, “I don’t-”

 

“I’m engaged.” He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes as he waited for Erik’s reaction.

 

Erik stared down at the diamond ring in his hand. “How did-” He plopped down onto the ground, just looking, bewildered, at the ring in his hand; it was a gold band dotted with small diamonds.

 

Erik was still racking his brain, trying to understand, when his cell phone rang. It was Hank.

 

“Hank, this really isn’t a good-” But Hank cut him off.

 

“Erik, I’ve got it. The first mark of the serum.”

 

Erik shook his head, “Yeah, you should just take that to the Xavier mansion; I won’t be seeing Charles again anytime soon.” He looked up into the chairbound mutants bright blue eyes, as they teared up.

 

Hank acknowledged him and hung up.

 

Erik set his phone in his bag, not breaking eye contact with Charles. He stood, still looking him in the eyes,  “You were right; I can’t deal with that. If you can lie to someone you obviously care for, not the best impression of loyalty, Charles. Hank will give you your cure, have a nice life Charles, and try pulling your shit together.”

 

He stood and left the park, leaving Charles there, under the big tree, in their special place.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------

 

He hadn’t been wrong when he told Hank he wouldn’t see Charles for a while, but of course, fate would push them together again, but we’ll get there.

 

Erik turned around the corner where Charles couldn’t see him. He could feel him in his head, calling out, reading the way he was feeling. It was sick.

 

Charles, fuck off! Erik sucked at restraint when he mind spoke, but he still meant what he’d said, nevertheless.

 

He paced quickly, further and further from Charles. The projection from the telepath got weaker and weaker.

 

Tears streamed down his cheeks. He was upset, he was angry, he wanted to punch Charles stupid, beautiful face.

 

Erik, you don’t understand, it was-

 

I understand crystal fucking clear! Stay out of my life, all you have done to me is fuck me up, and I don’t need more of that in my life!

 

He was so caught up in Charles and himself, that he didn’t notice a girl from school in front of him, and he ran straight into her, knocking himself and her down on the pavement.

 

He tried to clear his mind, and his eyes. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!” He tried to help her collect her things.

 

“That’s alright… Hey, don’t you go to Melior High?” She asked.

 

He looked up and nodded, “Erik,” He held out his hand.

 

“Raven.” She took the hand and shook.

 

\---------------

The next school year starts.

 

Erik was gathering his math and science books, since it would be easier to just have them both for the next two periods, from his locker.

 

He closed his locker to see a painfully familiar face walking down the hall. He clenched his jaw and turned his back on his old… Something.

 

He paced quickly down the hall, and it wasn’t until halfway through the class period that he realised how strange it was that he had seen Charles… Walking.

 

Hanks cure must have worked. He had barely glimpsed him before he took off, but he didn’t look to be doing too well.

  
  


Erik went home that day and immediately called Raven.

 

“Hello?” She answered.

 

“Hey! Raven, can I rant to you?” He asked.

 

“Sure, meet me at our spot in twenty minutes.” She hung up.

 

He smiled, relieved.

 

So he headed to the park, and when he arrived, she was already there, with another man whom he hadn’t met.

 

“Hey! Erik, this is Azazel. Azazel, Erik.” Raven introduced them.

 

Erik felt strangely wary about this guy.

 

“Ah, so you’re the ‘scary’ boyfriend. Perfect.” Azazel smiled.

 

Erik nodded awkwardly.

 

“Well, I actually must be going, it was nice meeting you Erik, I hope you two are just happy as can be.” Azazel smiled. “Good day.” And with that, he was gone.

 

Erik blinked. “Okay that was…” He shook his head. “Anyway, my rant.”

 

Raven nodded, gesturing for him to sit down as she did.

 

“So you remember that guy I told you about when we first met?”

 

~Flashback~

 

“Raven.” They shook hands. “Are you alright, Erik?” She asked, signing at the tears that streaked his face.

 

“I just- Nah, I don’t need to bore you with my life story.” He shrugged, trying to dry his eyes.

 

She grabbed his shoulder and half forced him to sit, “Do you have anywhere you need to be today?” She asked.

 

He thought for a moment, “No…”

 

She nodded, “Good, then you are going to tell me the entire story behind those tears. This looks like heartbreak, and that is something that needs talked about.” She informed him.

 

“So this guy…” and he didn’t tell her the entire story though, he left out the wheelchair and everything causing that, but he started from meeting Charles, up to him being engaged, but left out the name.

 

“Wow, guy sounds like a jerk.” Raven decided. “You know, I know a thing or two about heartbreak, and ranting is very healthy, so, as such, I make you a vow, as these pigeons as my witnesses, I will be there if you need to rant.” She handed him a piece of paper with ten numbers on it; her phone number.

 

He smiled, “And I will be there for you if you do. I think this should be our spot, our little rant spot.”

 

She nodded, “You know, you have a wonderful smile,” She scooted closer to him.

 

“You will probably see it a lot more now that we can hang.” He also leaned toward her.

 

“I certainly hope I do…” They were practically touching, so Erik just closed the gap; he leaned in and pressed his lips to the small woman’s.

 

~Flashback End~

 

She nodded, “Yeah, he totally led you on and then told you he was engaged? That guy?”

 

Erik nodded, “Yeah him, uh, he’s going to our school again this year. I have a bunch of classes with him.”

 

Ravens smile faded. “Oh. Well, if you point him out to me, we can go egg his house or something.” She shrugged her shoulders.

 

“I know where he lives, but I don’t think that would be the best idea…” He thought of Charles’ mansion.

 

Raven thought for a moment, “Oh well. I don’t know, you have to think of something you can do for closure,” She smiled, “And you could always let him go, keeping in mind me.” She leaned in and kissed him, “I just want you to be okay.” She looked up at him sympathetically.

 

That night, Erik thought about what she had said, about letting Charles go, but that might be harder than she made it seem; Charles was his only friend for the longest time, and his closest, until he had to become more…

 

He had trouble sleeping, so he wandered around the park late at night, thinking of Charles… The first day they had come to the park, and Charles had easily won chess, again and again, every time they came, until they became so close.

 

He thought about that day with Cain, when he had pulled Cains attention from Charles by drawing it to himself, and then the almost before the rain…

 

He shook his head, trying to think instead of Raven, how sweet she had been, Charles was sweet too, he was too good though. Pristine, dry cleaned, pure, spoiled rich brat.

 

Erik returned home but didn’t sleep, just laid in bed awake all night, thinking…

 

The next day, he put his math and science books back into his locker for lunch. He headed toward where he had sat every day last year, but just as he was nearing it, Charles sat there. He veered sharply to avoid eye contact with the small telepath.

 

Erik saw Raven gesturing for him to come sit with her and her friends.

 

Erik looked back at Charles sitting alone, and smirked slightly as he turned his back on him to go sit with Raven.

 

“So, you already met Azazel, this is Scott Summers, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde.” She pointed to them individually. “Let me tell you something Erik,” He bent over so she could whisper in his ear, “Everyone at this table is like me and you; we’re all mutants.” She scooted further down to make room for Erik, who was insanely tense.

 

“So you’re all…” He slowly sat down.

 

Kitty demonstrated first, phasing her hand through the table, before Jean reached out a hand toward Azazel’s empty tray, lifting it without touch into the air. Erik looked to Scott. “What about you?” He asked, still blown away by how many mutants actually went to his school.

 

Scott just kept eating. Raven looked at him and shook her head. “No demonstrations for him, not if we want to continue attending Melior High.”

 

Raven went last, changing her hand to blue and a kind of… Scaly-ish? He didn’t know how else to describe it.

 

“Alright now wise guy, what about you?” Scott looked at him.

 

Erik looked around to make sure no one was going to see and then levitated his fork, before crumpling it, without even laying a hand on it.

 

The other mutants nodded casually, and they proceeded to eat and screw around for the rest of lunch.

 

Erik didn’t want to eat, because of how many people were there; he just had a tick about it.

 

Raven noticed he wasn’t eating. “You alright?” She asked him.

 

He looked over to her, “Yeah,” He nodded, “I’m fine.”

 

She narrowed her eyes, before taking his hand and standing up. She pulled him a little further away so people couldn’t hear them.

 

“What’s wrong Erik?” She asked him, looking into his eyes.

 

He shook his head. “I’m not even sure I know the answer to that question.” He slumped down against the wall.

 

Raven slumped down next to him. “I think I can answer it;” She turned his face up toward Erik.

 

“Erik, you need to get closure. You can’t ever be fine with someone else until you finish your business.” She laid her head on his shoulder, looking up at him.

 

Erik was about to say something when the bell rang. “Hold that thought,” She encouraged him, before giving him a small peck on the cheek and heading to her next class. Erik’s next class was his least favorite; Psychology.

 

Though surprisingly enough, it was one of his few classes Charles wasn’t in. Today they were assigning partners for the upcoming project.

 

He walked into the room, sat in his assigned seat.

 

Since it was only the second day, there were barely any of the same people who had been in the class yesterday; people were always switching around.

 

Erik waited for the second bell as people shuffled about, at least half of the kids had to go up to the teacher and ask where to sit, as they hadn’t been in the class the previous day.

 

Erik shook his head. If you want to be in a class, request it before the year starts. He thought, annoyed.

 

Unfortunately, the last person on earth he wanted to see took a seat directly next to him.

 

“Charles?!” He muttered under his breath. Charles, I think we need to talk; I’m dating someone, and I need to have some sort of closure, so here goes-

 

“Erik Lehnsherr?” Called Mr Radisson.

 

“Present.” He grumbled.

 

Anyway, I’ve been dating someone else, and obviously you already were when we were… Whatever we were, but we need to have a more serious talk, out loud. Meet me at our old place after school?

 

He was surprised by Charles silence. He frowned, looking over at Charles, who looked like hell.

 

His once slicked dark hair grew out, loose and untended. He had huge dark circles under his eyes, all of his bruises were visible to the untrained eye, and he wore sweatpants and a hoody.

 

Erik glared at Charles; he was ignoring him! Talk about rude.

 

“What about you, Mister Lehnsherr?” Uh-oh… Erik had been so caught up in Charles, he hadn’t been listening to the teacher at all.

 

“Oh, um…” He gulped, and was saved by a disgruntled Charles raising his hand.

 

“Mister Xavier?” He called on him.

 

“That would more than likely mean person A was lying, sir.” His voice sounded so broken and unenthusiastic.

 

Erik looked down at his desk. Was this his fault? Should he have not been so harsh on him? Yeah, like, technically, they had just been friends, so it wasn’t like Charles had actually done anything wrong…

 

…

 

After school that day, Raven came up to Erik, “Hey,” She sounded beaten down as well.

 

“What’s up?” He asked her.

 

She shook her head, “It’s my brother, he’s… Not in a good place right now.” They started walking toward their spot.

 

“Something happened, and see he was a mutant too, but he started taking something, some sort of painkiller thing, and it’s repressing his telepathy, but he’s using it more now to drown minds out than to make his legs work-”

 

“Wait, your brother is taking something for his legs, and he was a telepath?” Erik frowned.

 

She looked up at him, “Yes..?” She was slightly confused where he was going with this.

 

“Raven, what’s your brothers name?” He asked, forcing himself to be calm.

 

She paused, “Charles, Charles Xavier. Why?” She was slightly uncomfortable with how serious he had just gotten.

 

He shook his head, “No reason.” He shrugged, pushing down everything he was feeling about what he had just learned.

 

That night Erik was laying in bed, trying to process what Raven had said; Charles was her troubled brother. Charles wasn’t a telepath. He was taking the injections now to block out peoples thoughts.

 

Interrupting his contemplating, Erik’s phone rang. “Hello?” Erik sat up.

 

“Erik! Hi, it’s Azazel.”

 

Erik rubbed his eyes. “Dude, do you know what time it is?” Erik grumbled.

 

“It’s not midnight yet,” Azazel pointed out.

 

Erik shook his head, “Whatever. What- why did you call me?” He yawned.

 

“I was wondering if we could meet up, like, at the park or something?”

 

Erik sighed. He realised it was probably a real problem if he was calling him this late, “Okay-okay I’m on my way.” he hung up and ran his hand down his face.

 

He climbed out of bed and grabbed his coat, before heading out the door.

 

It was cool and dark, leaves crunched with every step.

 

When Erik reached the park, he found Azazel waiting for him.

 

He was thinking hard about something.

 

“Hey man, what’s going on?” Erik sat down next to Azazel.

 

“I know about… How that mystery ‘jerk’ you were on and off with, how he was Charles Xavier, Raven’s brother. I was there, but… Why didn’t you tell her?”

 

This had gone not even slightly in the direction Erik had expected. “Well, I-”

 

Azazel gave a light laugh. “That came out sounding scary,” He shook his head, “it’s just, she is really important to me, I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

 

Erik looked down at his lap, “I don’t know I just-” He sighed, “It was a lot to process.”

 

He laid back in the grass, and Azazel followed his lead, nodding.

 

“Yeah, I get that, because you having extra time to process is so much more important than her being able to trust you.” He looked over at Erik, who let out an exasperated sigh.

 

“It wasn’t just that he was her brother, I didn’t know the serum made it so he wasn’t a telepath, and I was being kind of a jerk, if he isn’t a telepath…” He ran his hands through his hair.

 

“Hey man, it’s alright. Hey, what do you say to going back to my place to chill out a bit?” Azazel suggested.

 

Erik shrugged, “Sure, why not? I’m getting eaten by mosquitos out here.” So they headed back. to Azazel’s house.

 

When they got there, Azazel unlocked the door and they walked in. “Go ahead and have a seat, I’m gonna grab something.” He gestured over to the various places to sit, and Erik just sat on the couch.

 

Azazel returned with a large bottle and two glasses.

 

“Wait, is that-?”

 

“Yes, my friend, this is certified bootleg whiskey.” He smiled.

 

Erik shook his head, “I am not, in a million years-”

 

“You scared? Did Charles goody-goody rub off on you?” Azazel traced a tear down his cheek.

 

Erik rolled his eyes and grabbed the bottle from his hands.

 

These were stupid teenagers; they didn’t know how small a shot was supposed to be; they thought you drank whiskey like you would soda, or tea or whatever, so that was how they drank it, and in the process, got themselves knock-out wasted.

 

Erik didn’t remember much from the night, he had fragments, playing ‘Truth or Dare’, playing ‘Never Have I Ever’, nothing too real, but when he woke, Erik was fully naked in Azazel’s bed.

 

He sat up, clenching the blanket to his chest. He looked next to him and there was Azazel, under the rest of the blanket. “Oh my God, did we…”

 

Azazel sat up. “Looks like we did.” He stood, obviously not shy, and walked away across the room to the closet, where he could get an outfit.

 

Erik ran his hand through his hair, “You know I had never… I never…” he couldn’t even begin to process this whole thing.

 

Azazel, on the other hand, seemed to be handling it fine. “Erik?” He said.

 

Erik sighed, “Yeah?”

 

“You know Raven can never know about this.” He looked at him.

 

Erik shook his head, “What?”

 

“Like I said, I care about her, and I will not see her hurt.”

 

They were both nearly dressed now, and Erik was working his shoes back on, “Azazel, that makes no sense. Lying to her will make it worse-”

 

“Oh? Really? So lying to her about this will make it worse, but lying to her about Charles helps?” He crossed his arms.

 

Erik closed his eyes, frustrated. “No that was-”

 

Azazel tsk-ed at him, “Yeah, perfect logic there.”

 

“No, I just-”

 

“Maybe you should think before you speak, darling.”

 

That specific reference, added to the frustration of being cut off and his anger with himself, was all too much, so he released it on it’s main focus; his fist flew through the air and into Azazel’s nose.

 

“Shut the fuck up!” He yelled.

 

Azazel shook his head. “Dude, you’ve obviously got issues; everyone does, but here’s some advice; pull your shit together, or keep it away from me and my friends.” And he gestured Erik toward the door.

 

Erik clenched his fists as he turned to leave, but was stopped by Azazel’s voice once more, “I think you need to find someone to help you pull that together, not to judge, from my position.”

 

Erik resumed walking, not dignifying the statement with a response.

 

He left the house and headed back to his. He decided to ditch out on school today; he sat around his house all day, until around four, Raven called him.

 

“Hello?” He answered.

 

“Hey, Erik I think we need to talk. Meet at our place?” She sounded worried.

 

“Uh, yeah sure…” He hung up, frowning. He quickly changed clothes and headed out.

 

When he reached the park, Raven was there… With Azazel. “Hey,” He avoided eye contact with Azazel as he went in to hug Raven.

 

As he hugged her though, since Azazel was behind her, he made a face  at him, mouthing ‘Don’t even think about it’.

 

Azazel put his hands in the air.

 

“Azazel, could you excuse us for a minute? We need to have a private conversation.”

 

He nodded and backed up, catching Erik’s eyes before he turned around to give them space.

 

“Erik, there’s something I need to tell you…” She took a deep breath. “Erik I-”

 

“My on and off boyfriend during the school year was your brother!” Erik shut his eyes, bracing.

 

There was a moment of silence before he opened his eyes, to see she was just sitting there, slightly confused, perhaps, but she didn’t seem upset.

 

“Is that why you were being weird yesterday? When I was talking about him?” Raven looked up at him.

 

He just nodded wistfully.

 

She ran her hand down her face. “Erik, why didn’t you just tell me that yesterday?”

 

He shook his head, “I don’t know, I got it in my head that you would be upset by it, because it was kind of all my fault he got paralysed, and all my fault he got hooked on the serum.” He bit his lip.

 

She thought for a moment, “Erik, what the hell are you talking about?” She asked, now getting upset.

 

He took a deep breath, and prepared for it to be over with her. “Okay, well, we were hanging out, and, it started to rain, so we headed home, but the tree was about to fall and he tripped, so I tried to help by keeping the tree from completely impacting him, but it turns out I only made it worse, and then I felt bad so I asked a doctor if there was any way he would be able to walk again, and he said there might be some side effects, and Charles was supposed to tell him if there were…” He ran both hands down his face, resting his head in them.

 

Her only question was so difficult for him to answer, but also very reasonable; “Do you still have feelings for him?”

 

Erik looked up at her, confused by the off-topic question, as she pressed back tears.

 

He frowned, “Raven, I-”

 

“It’s a yes or no question; do you still have feelings for my brother?” She repeated, as tears rolled off of her cheeks.

 

Erik gathered his thoughts, before deciding on what he was to say; “I was in love with Charles, innocent, rich-kid, pristine pressed Charles Xavier; I’m in love with who I saw, not who he is.” he was also pressing back tears now. He finally understood what his heart was doing; Charles wasn’t good for him. Charles was too low at this point, anything he did would be taking advantage of that. He finally, for the first time since meeting Charles, knew how he felt about him.

 

Raven looked down. “Okay… Okay I can live with that, if you can promise me you aren’t going to fall back into his arms.”

 

Erik shook his head, “He couldn’t take me back even if either of us wanted to; he’s got a big, fat diamond ring he’s pretty committed to.” Erik was becoming angry with Charles again having this conversation.

 

When he looked up, Raven was contemplating something, “Hey Erik, was this ring a gold band, with small diamonds embedded along it and possibly an inscription on the inside?” She looked up at him.

 

He frowned, “It might have had an inscription, I didn’t-”

 

She huffed, annoyed, “But was it a gold band studded with diamonds?”

 

He nodded. “Erik, I don’t know how to put this, so I will be blunt; that ring was Sharon’s. He got it when she died. Charles was never engaged.”

 

Erik blinked, “Wait, why would he lie about something like that? Why couldn’t he just-”

 

Raven put her arm over his shoulder, “Erik, does it really matter the reasons? His intention was clear; he was running from you, and for what reason I can’t say, but he didn’t want to go out with you, but that isn’t what matters; I do, which could be what’s important to you now, or Charles could be more important to you, and I would understand.” She looked down.

 

Erik looked at her like she had grown wings, taking her hands.. “Raven, I love you, I could care less for Charles that way, but since you two are siblings, I want to be able to be in the same room as the guy, and for that to work, we need to make up in that area. Would you be okay with that?”

 

She smiled. “Erik, I think you and Charles being friends,” She put her arms over his shoulders, her eyes flickering down to his lips, “Could potentially be a good idea.”

 

Erik smirked and leaned down closer to his girl. “I don’t know how we could be more, with such a beautiful girl here, though I wish you could show your most beautiful you more often...” He pressed his lips to her very humanly lips, as her blond hair came through his fingers, and they sat like that for a while, while Azazel watched angrily from across the park.

 

…

 

So the next day, Erik came to school with the intention of confronting Charles during lunch.

 

Unfortunately, Erik got lunch detention, so his first half of lunch he was stuck in detention.

 

Once he was able to leave, he spotted Charles and made a beeline for him.

 

“Charles, I really think we need to-” There was a high pitched bell sound. It rang three times, then paused, then rang three times again. Everyone recognised what this bell meant; fire drill.

 

Charles and Erik were in different homerooms, so Erik was forced to turn around, frustrated and full of things he wanted to say. Since Charles was no longer a telepath, it made communicating with him much harder.

 

The fire drill lasted through lunch, and it turned out some kid had actually set a small fire in the Home Economics room, which had triggered the fire detector.

 

Unfortunately for Erik, the fire drill lasted through his next class, and the only other class he had with Charles had a super strict no-nonsense teacher, so he wasn’t able to speak with him then, and he was forced to wait until after school.

 

When the bell rang, he had to stay late because of an assignment he didn’t turn in, and he got a ‘serious talking to’ about how ‘important’ your grades are to success in your future life.

 

Erik tuned out the teacher, waiting anxiously to leave; he’d had the same talk millions of times, and he pretty much had it memorised.

 

The teacher handed him an ISS slip with a final, “I’m very disappointed in you Erik; I know you’re smarter than this.”

 

“Okay, bye!” If he tried his hardest, Erik might be a good student, but he was too caught up in other things.

 

He ran outside as quickly as he could, earning a whistle from Coach.

 

He ignored it, knowing he had more important things to do; he needed to find Charles.

 

He wanted to follow, maybe toward his house, but there was one problem; he still didn’t know where Charles’ house was. He wandered around for a while, and then realised luck just wasn’t on his side, and he would have to wait until the next day.

 

Speaking of luck, he felt a droplet of water on his forehead. He held his hand out, and a drop fell on it, and then another, and then it was raining again,

 

Erik decided to take the shortcut home, even if it was slightly disrespectful, through the cemetery.

 

He walked with his hood over his head, so no one could see his face in case they were offended by his stepping on people’s graves. He mostly avoided them, but sometimes he would slip up and step on one he hadn’t noticed.

 

Erik stopped when he heard a sob, coming from his right, very near him.

 

He turned and walked toward the sound, to find Charles on his knees, soaking wet, in front of a tombstone.

 

His face was in his hands, so he hadn’t noticed Erik approach. “So you really aren’t a telepath anymore.”

 

Charles jumped slightly, scrambling to hide his tears.

 

Erik walked around so he could see what the grave said; Sharon Xavier/Marko, amazing mother, beloved wife.

 

Erik crouched next to his old friend. “Charles, I know this is a bad time, like every time seems to be for us, but we really need to talk.”

 

Charles nodded. “Do you want to go somewhere… A little drier?” He suggested.

 

Erik bit his lip, remembering his plan with Raven today, to meet after he spoke with Charles, which was supposed to be at lunch, and then it was supposed to be after school… “Sure.” he decided, “But there’s someone I need to call on the way,” He told him. As they stood, he pulled out his phone, trying to shield it as much as possible from the rain. He dropped behind Charles a bit, so he couldn’t hear the conversation.

 

“Erik?” Came Raven’s voice, sounding slightly mad for whatever reason.

 

“Hey, um, I have good news and bad; the bad news is, I will be a bit late to your house today, but the good news is I found Charles, and we are going to talk, but… It might take a while.”

 

“Yeah, uh-huh, why don’t you sleep with him while you’re there?!” And with that confusing statement, she hung up.

 

Erik blinked, confused by what had just happened, until it hit him; Azazel…

 

He ran his hand down his face. You know what? Fuck it! He thought, annoyed. He wasn’t going to deal with Azazel’s bullshit right now, he needed to deal with his own; he chucked his phone into the grass.

 

Charles stopped, but Erik stormed right past him. When he wasn’t looking, Charles picked up his phone and stuck it in his pocket.

 

They continued do Charles mansion.

 

Up to this point, for the most part Erik had managed to humanise Charles in his mind, but seeing the way he lived brought Erik right back to the day they had met, when Charles had left his popular friends to come sit with Erik.

 

Now though, he looked like a certified druggie.

 

His skin was pale and pasty, he had huge circles under his eyes, and his hair was nearing down to his chin.

 

Erik was amazed by Charles ‘house’, if you could even call it that.

 

They stepped inside what was probably closer to a castle than a house.

 

Erik was even more in awe when he looked around the inside of Charles’ mansion; it was huge! He walked slowly out into the middle of the entry room.

 

“Charles, your house is…” He shook his head.

 

Charles grunted in agreement, but didn’t seem in the most peppy of moods, which was easily relatable.

 

Erik solomed his face up as they headed to Charles’ room to talk in private.

 

Charles winced as he stepped in and shut the door.

 

He limped over to his bed and sat down, gesturing Erik to sit wherever.

 

Erik went ahead and sat down next to Charles, taking a deep breath.

 

“Okay Charles, we obviously have quite a few things we need to speak about. I think we should start from how we ended.”

 

Charles shook his head, “No, see that day you didn’t let me finish what I was trying to say; it was an arranged marriage, since I was a toddler-”

 

Erik cut him off, “Yeah, spare it; I know the engagement was a sham.”

 

Charles frowned, “Wait, what are you talking about? My betrothment-”

 

“Charles, I know it was fake! You shouldn’t waste your breath on elaborating on lies that I already-”

 

“Erik!” Charles yelled, “Would you please stop talking for one fucking second, please?!”

He shook his head, grabbing the belt and needle from his nightstand.

 

As he wrapped the belt around his upper arm, he explained; “I have been arranged to marry Emma Frost since before I could speak; it was decided by my parents. Our marriage is intended to bond the companies, making it the richest company on earth.”

 

Erik frowned, confused. Why would Raven lie to him?

 

He watched grimly as Charles lifted the needle.

 

“Charles, I think the rest of this conversation can wait for a later date…” He was avoiding it half because he needed to talk to Raven, and half because he couldn’t stand to see Charles stick that needle in his arm, so he stood and left, with Charles, staring at the needle himself, suddenly made unsure.

 

Erik was almost out of the mansion when he heard Charles’ voice again; “Wait,”

 

He clenched his jaw, “Yes, Charles?”

 

Charles walked, down the stairs.

 

“Erik, you might want this,” He tossed Erik his phone, which he had thrown earlier after his conversation with Raven.

 

“Why did you…” Erik shook his head, “Thank you.” He managed to get out.

 

As Erik left the house, he dialed Azazel.

 

It rang twice before he picked up.

 

“Erik?”He sounded slightly confused.

 

“I have three words for you Azazel; You. Are. Dead.” And he hung up, storming toward Raven’s house.

 

The rain had died down to a light sprinkle as he reached her house, knocking on the door.

 

Raven opened the door, “Erik?” she frowned, before remembering she was supposed to be mad, “I think we have some things to discuss.” and she opened the door further welcoming him inside.

 

They went and sat on a couch in the living room.

 

“Raven, I know that what I did was-”

 

“Really, Erik, do you know? Do you know hard it is to hear that you broke the only promise we made? You told me you weren’t in love with Charles, and now I’m hearing just what utter bullshit that was? I shouldn’t need told from a third party what is really happening!” She bit her lip.

 

Erik frowned, “Wait, what? Raven, what does Charles have to do with any of this?”

 

She raised her eyebrows, “Really? You’re going for the innocent bullshit now?! Erik, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to pull your shit together. There’s the door when you need it.”

 

And with that, she stood and stormed upstairs.

 

Erik decided it was best if he left immediately, though he was still confused as to why she had dragged Charles into all of this.

 

The specific words she had said sounded painfully familiar, when she said he needed to ‘pull his shit together’ and he racked his brain trying to figure where he had heard them before.

 

The sun was shining now, though there were still puddles everywhere. The first person Erik saw as the sun began to set made Erik realise where he had heard Raven’s words before; when he saw Hank it came to him; they had been his parting word to Charles; “... And try pulling your shit together.”

 

Now the words really bit him, knowing what it felt like to hear those words made him think of his own rationale when ‘breaking up’ with Charles, if you can call it that.

 

He ran his hand down his face, deciding he needed to speak with Charles again, and soon.

  
  


So he went to talk to him the next day at lunch.

 

“Ch-” He cut himself off, noticing Raven watching him carefully.

 

He closed his eyes, realising as Charles looked up at him that he would have to fix things with Raven first, or he wouldn’t be able to.

 

He bit down on his lip, cursing himself for messing it up in the first place.

 

So he turned around, opening his eyes back up slowly, and headed back towards Ravens table, earning a quiet confused, “Erik, wha-” from Charles.

 

Erik winced, but returned to Raven’s table anyway, earning a group sigh of relief, from most around the table, excluding Azazel, who looked skeptical.

 

“Raven, I need to talk to you. Alone.”

 

She narrowed her eyes but followed silently.

 

Once they were out of earshot of the group, Erik had gathered his thoughts enough to speak.

“Raven, I don’t know what story you heard, but something tells me it wasn’t the whole one; I swear to you, I am done with Charles, nothing happened between me and him, but something did happen, and I need to tell you what-”

 

Raven cut him off by pressing her lips to his. After a few moments, she pulled back. “Erik, I know your past is fucked up, and I can be sure your future probably will be too; the world sucks, but I also know this; somewhere within that thick-headed, fucked up, broken person, there is a heart that loves me, albeit a broken one, and that is all I need to know. I don’t need to know what has already happened, I need to know what’s going to happen. The only thing I need from you is to be able to trust that you won’t hurt me again, and I think I have that faith in you.”

 

Erik blinked, “But I-”

 

“No, it doesn’t matter, if you can tell me it was a fluke, that you aren’t going to do it again.” She watched him carefully.

 

“Raven,” He paused, his mind flickering to Charles. “Raven, I can promise you I am a fucked up person, and you-” He needed to do it, it was better for her to be out of his blast radius, “Raven, you can trust that will not happen again.” Those weren’t the words he meant to say, no, no he-

 

The worry and fear disappeared from her face, “Okay, okay thank you.” She leaned in and kissed him.

 

The next day, he thought again of going to speak with Charles, and given his current situation, he really needed to talk to someone, but he wanted to fix things with Raven first, so he gave Charles, who watched him with a frown, a wistful moment of eye contact, before going to sit with his overly loyal girlfriend.

 

He ran a hand down his face as he sat with the group. Azazel was strangely quiet for the whole meal for some reason, but Erik decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, since he was still pissed with Azazel for… Well, everything.

 

The next few days went by, turning into a bit of a routine, Erik wanted to talk to Charles, but it still made Raven kind of uncomfortable, so he would head toward his table, give him a stressed look and just turn around.

 

After a week, Charles was confused and kind of fed up with it, “Wait!” He called out to Erik as he turned back to Raven.

 

Now, Charles Xavier, despite his less-than-complete mental state, was still ‘that rich popular kid’, so everyone knew who he was, and by extension, everyone knew who Erik and Raven were, and about the current drama going on with the three.

 

Erik closed his eyes, turning slowly to Charles. The lunchroom fell silent, every eye glued on the two teenagers.

 

“Yes, Charles?” He gritted his teeth, feeling Raven’s gaze searing into the back of his head, every eye shifting from him to Charles, who stood.

 

“Erik, what is going on? A week ago you wanted to fix our friendship, and now I don’t exist?” He walked toward the older mutant.

 

Erik clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling the pressure of the entire high school. “Charles, can we do this later? I don’t-”

 

“Now is later, a year later!” Charles looked down.

 

“Charles, I can’t tell you what is going on, I wish I could but I just-”

 

Charles stamped his foot, “That’s not good enough! You can’t not tell me, not anymore…” he looked to the floorboards, taking a deep breath.

 

“Charles, dammit I can’t tell you! What part of that don’t you understand?!” His anger and frustration and confusion from the last year overpowered the immense number of eyes fixed on him, as tears were pushed back. “I will never be able to tell you again, because I’m not the only one who fucks things up sometimes! I’m not the only one with problems, and whoop dee fucking doo, Charles Xavier had to take a walk in a-a-a commoners shoes for a couple months, it’s the end of the world, that his wealthiness should have to learn some-some morality!”

 

And with that he stormed from the cafeteria, retreating to the bathroom to hide tears, only to hear the last voice he wanted to hear right now, or ever.

 

“Erik, what ever is the matter?” Came Azazel in a mock sympathetic voice.

 

“Fuck off Azazel.” Erik choked out.

 

“Why, what did I do?” He asked, still in a mocking voice.

 

“You’re a dick!” He didn’t mean to blurt it out that way, but he had to admit it at some point; he was. “I don’t know what your MO is, but you seem determined on breaking up me and Raven, and you are supposed to be her friend, and you snuck around behind her back to try to unhitch her relationship; like I said, I don’t know your game, but you better back the fuck up.”

 

“Oh yes, see, the most accurate part of your statement is ‘behind her back’, you see, you may not know this, but that’s kind of how she rolls, so I did get, behind her back, but not in the way you’re thinking.”

 

That was the last straw. It had been a long week, and that was a step too far; something inside Erik snapped. He would recount the story as he blacked out for a few minutes, but he didn’t. He saw and heard everything he said and did, he just couldn’t stop himself.

 

When he came to, as he told it, Azazel was on the ground with a black eye and a busted lip, and Erik himself had a few bruises, and a bloody nose, and he didn’t regret a single thing from those few minutes in the bathroom.

  
  
  


Until the next day. Erik walked into the lunchroom, sore but not marked, to see Azazel, at the regular table glaring when he saw Erik. He also had noticed Charles was absent that day.

 

Neither of them had spoken to Raven since the previous day, and the lunchroom fell dead silent again as Erik entered, since most eyes had been trained on Azazel anyway.

 

Erik didn’t like being the center of attention this way; it made him self conscious, like all of his decisions affected every person who was watching him.

 

He closed his eyes, flexing his jaw. He took a deep breath before going to the regular table. “Raven, I really need to talk to you.” He said decisively, extending his hand.

 

She narrowed her eyes, but took the hand and followed him to the hall, away from prying eyes.

 

He turned to face her, looking her in the eyes. “Raven, I know we decided on the whole, ‘the past doesn’t matter’ thing, but I am about to blow my top if I can’t try to explain myself.”

 

She bit her lip, “Oh thank God…” She ran her hand down her face, “Erik, I slept with Azazel.” She looked at him, nervously.

 

His answer was calm and immediate; “When?” He asked.

 

She frowned at him, “What do you-?”

 

“How long ago?” He asked skeptically.

 

She rolled her eyes but answered, “Like, three weeks ago, just before school started, but why would that even-”

 

“That son of a bitch,” Erik muttered, not looking at his girlfriend.

 

Annoyed now, Raven grabbed Erik’s face, “Erik,” She looked into his eyes. “You need to tell me what is going on in your mind right now, or so help me-”

 

“I also slept with Azazel. About three weeks ago, just before the school year started.” He blurted. “That was who I-what I was trying to tell you.”

 

Raven sighed, “So he slept-” She ran her hand through her hair, which flickered dark brown where she touched it.

 

She looked more freaked out than she sounded, “Raven?” Erik placed a hand on her shoulder, and for a moment, her face changed, and Erik caught a glimpse of familiar strikingly blue eyes.

 

He stepped back, confused. “Raven, why are you even thinking about-” He shook his head. “What does Charles have to do with anything right now?”

 

When she looked back to him, her eyes were glossy. “Are you- and I need your honest answer- are you still in love with Charles? Are you dive bombing us, because you are still in love with him?”

 

Erik clenched his jaw, as he came to a conclusion; him being with Raven was just going to cause her pain. He loved her, and for that reason, there was something he needed to do.

 

“Raven, I don’t think…” He needed to break up with her, because she was going to get hurt. “Raven I don’t think… I can be friends with Azazel.” What?! No…

 

Raven let out a breath, “Okay, then…” She frowned, “Or, we could try to figure out what’s going on with him,” She took both of his hands, “I get that you’re probably pissed at him, I am too, believe me, but he, like anyone else, deserves a chance to explain.”

 

That hadn’t been Erik’s point at all. He hadn’t even said what he meant, but he decided to follow along with that since it was easier than trying to explain, so he sighed. “Okay, fine.”

 

So they went back out into the lunchroom, Erik prepared to fake through an apology with Azazel.

 

They approached their table, Erik’s eyes locked on Azazel. “You have some explaining to do,” Raven said decisively, crossing her arms.

 

Erik gestured for the taller mutant to stand, leading him away from the others since this matter didn’t concern them.

 

Azazel followed reluctantly, making it more than clear he didn’t want to be a part of this conversation.

 

Once they were further off, Raven turned to look at him, only able to express three words for all the shit he did; “What the hell.” She didn’t enunciate it like a question though, so Erik tried to take over, only to be cut off by the bell.

 

Azazel sighed, obviously relieved to be saved by it. “Sorry, gotta go.” He winked at Erik. “By the way, Jean wanted me to give you this,” He handed them each an envelope before taking off.

 

Annoyed, Erik opened it as he walked toward his next class. When he opened it up, he found a piece of paper, unfolding to reveal a party invitation, probably more meant for Raven, at Jean’s house the next day.

 

…

 

After school that day, Erik met up with Raven before searching around for Azazel together.

 

After sticking around the school for about a half hour, the duo gave up; he obviously hadn’t stayed.

 

Erik ran his hand down his face, frustrated. Him and Raven hung out for the rest of the day, before Raven broke off for something or other she had to do, leaving Erik to go home and pretty much hang out alone for the rest of the day.

 

He reached home, locking the door behind him and half tossing his keys onto the coffee table just inside the door.

 

He ran a stressed hand down his face as he headed over to the couch, turning his phone back on since he’s had it off since school.

 

He had a text, which he opened as he plopped down onto the couch.

It was from an unrecognised number, and it read;

 

From: Unsaved Number (4:21 pm, Friday)

 

Hey, is this Erik Lehnsherr?

 

Erik frowned. It was now six, so it had been almost two hours, but he decided to answer anyway.

 

To: Unsaved Number (6:04 pm, Friday)

 

yes, erik, whos this?

 

He locked his phone and laid back on the couch, turning on the TV nonchalantly.

 

Bzzt bzzt.

 

He grabbed his phone and opened it up again.

 

From: Unsaved Number (6:07 pm, Friday)

 

Erik, this is Jean Grey, from school, Raven gave me your number, are you guys coming to my party tomorrow?

 

Erik smirked, saving her number in his phone before responding.

 

To: Jean Grey (6:09 pm, Friday)

 

far as i no were goin. Y?

 

Erik responded, lazily tossing his phone onto the end table

 

Bzzt bzzt.

 

From: Jean Grey (6:12 pm, Friday)

 

Just wondering. (;

 

She elaborated. Erik smirked,

 

To: Jean Grey (6:13 pm, Friday)

 

kk :D

 

He closed off the conversation, laying back and allowing himself  to drift off.

 

That night, for some reason, he had a very vivid dream.

 

He was at school, and the lunch bell rang.

 

Erik enters the lunchroom, spotting Charles at their table.

 

He walks over to Charles, sitting down next to him.

 

They laugh and have fun for the rest of the day, Erik feeling the same happiness as he used to from Charles.

 

They went to the park after school, and Charles was sitting under the tree, just like on the one day, and Erik leaned in, so close, so many feelings he had felt on that day, as he leaned, almost touching…

 

“Ah-” Erik covered his mouth as he jumped awake, sitting up, straight as a board.

 

He shuddered, thinking of Raven.

 

He ran his hand down his face, knowing how badly, for her sake, he needed to break up with her.

 

He rolled out of bed to check the time, finding it was already almost eight, good thing it was Saturday, so there wasn’t school.

 

He didn’t see himself falling back asleep, so he decided to pull himself together for the day, since him and Raven had made plans for the day.

 

He headed into the bathroom,beginning his morning routine, but he couldn’t get that dream out of his mind, it felt so real… It had been exactly the same feeling as when he was really with Charles, the confusion and frustration, the longing just to be with him, all the time…

 

He shook his head, thinking of Raven. He couldn’t be with Charles, it would never work…

 

His thoughts were cut off by the steady vibration of his cell. He looked at the screen to discover it was Raven.

 

“Hey,” He greeted, a smile threatening his lips at the thought of the small blonde.

 

“Hey, we still on for today?” She asked.

 

Erik rested his wrist on the bathroom counter, “Yeah, why did something come up?”

 

He clacked his toothbrush on the counter.

 

“No, no… Of course not, just making sure…” She sounded relieved.

 

“Raven,” He started carefully, “What’s-what’s going on?”

 

She sighed relievedly over the line, “I am just really glad… I- we haven’t hung out in a long time, and I was afraid something would come up…”

 

There was something else, Erik could tell from her tone, but he decided to let it go for now. “Okay, whatever you say, see you in an hour?” He reminded of their aforementioned date.

 

She laughed light heartedly. “See you then,” And with that, she hung up.

 

Erik set his phone back down on the counter as he finished his morning routine.

 

The dream kept creeping its way into his head, so he decided to take a shower to clear his mind.

 

…

 

He came out of the shower, twenty minutes until his scheduled picnic with Raven, where he needed to break up with her, feeling worse.

 

He dressed and headed out, slipping his phone into his pocket as he headed toward the door.

 

As he reached the door though, he found his keys weren’t sitting on the table.

 

He frowned, searching around for a few minutes before finding them on his nightstand.

 

That was odd, he could swear he left his keys on the table by the door…

 

He shrugged it off and headed out to meet Raven.

 

He reached the park only a minute early to find his girlfriend already there, in her blonde form of course.

 

He walked up to her, nervously resting his wrist on the back of his neck, “Hey,”

 

She looked up, smiling when she realised he was there. She bounced over to him, “Hey there,” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before taking his hand and heading over to a flat area, under an all too familiar tree.

 

Erik stopped before they quite reached the spot, “Um…” He bit his lip.

 

Raven turned back to him, “Something wrong?” She asked, looking up at him.

 

“Maybe-maybe sit over there?” He suggested, pointing to a different tree.

 

Raven clenched her jaw, understanding creeping onto her face. “Erik, honey,”She took both of his hands, “You can never fix a problem if you don’t face it. If we hide from everything that’s wrong, nothing will ever get better.”

 

She let go of his hands to grab the picnic blanket, setting it down right where his dream had taken place the night before.

 

He decided to keep the dream to himself, regarding her determination that he was done with Charles. Forever.

 

So he sat, they had a picnic, it was lovely, light humored, but Erik just kept thinking back to that dream, to the actual events that had taken place under this tree…

 

He shook his head, focussing on Raven, on what is, not what was.

 

So they spent the majority of the day together, before they split to ready for the party.

 

Erik knew he would get to meet the Emma he had been texting, and he was eager to; she seemed pretty cool.

 

He went to Raven’s house first, to pick her up.

 

She yelled back at someone inside the mansion(she lived with Charles, since they were siblings), before slamming the door and storming to the car to greet Erik with a lovely “Drive, far away, please.”

 

He didn’t object as he backed out of her driveway.

 

They were a few blocks away before Erik dare speak. “Everything alright?” He asked her.

 

She shook her head. “Some people just don’t understand when to stop! Like, literally, if someone doesn’t like you, they don’t like you! How hard is it to understand.”

 

Erik frowned, “Is someone harassing you?” He asked, looking at her from the road for a minute.

 

Raven looked like he had grown a third eyes, “What-no, no no no, that’s not what’s going on at all,” She shook her head, “No it’s my… Friend, he’s doing so much for this one person, but that person has a girlfriend…” She glared, “And he just won’t give up on getting with this guy, like, he’s changing, I guess for the better for him, but they won’t get together, because this boy is in love…”

 

Erik frowned, “Was this friend of yours a friend to Charles too? Because he didn’t leave your house when you did…”

 

“Oh yeah,” She thought for a second, “Well, it-it’s complicated, but in a way, yes.”

 

Erik decided not to press, based on her tone.

 

They arrived at the party, and there were a ridiculous number of people, and alcohol to match.

 

Raven departed to get them some aforementioned alcohol, though he detested the idea of adhering to stereotypes, and he didn’t like the thought of the only previous time he’d indulged the substance…

 

He shook his head to clear it, but saw just the face that would bring it back to him.

 

Azazel walked past him, giving him a sly wink, before disappearing into the crowd.

 

Erik frowned, before noticing a woman, dressed in all white, maybe taller than him, fixing her gaze and heading over to him.

 

“Um, hi?” He said awkwardly when she approached.

 

“Hello, Erik, right?” She guessed.

 

He nodded, warily. “Yes, and you?”

 

“Emma, we spoke last night?”

 

Erik nodded, “Yeah,” He knew now, “Well it’s nice to meet you Emma,”

 

She extended a hand, “And a pleasure to meet a friend of Jeans.” She smiled.

 

Just then Raven returned. The three had a fine time, and while all three were drinking, Emma seemed insusceptible to the influence for whatever reason.

 

Near the end of the night, Erik had gone from happy go-lucky drunk, to I’m going to vent things I don’t actually want people to know wasted.

 

Raven was in the bathroom, when Erik broke down in a rant to Emma.

 

“You know, I was supposed to break up with her earlier, and I was supposed to break up with her yesterday, and I was supposed to break up with her… Forever!”

 

His slurred words peaked the interest of the older teen. “You were?” She asked.

 

“Yeah, ‘cause Charles and I are gonna hurt her, and I don’t want to hurt her.” He explained, completely oblivious to the fact that he was giving these things away.

 

“Well, it’s only going to hurt more if you wait,” Emma rationalised.

 

“You know what, you’re right.” He pushed himself up, staggering toward Raven as she came out of the bathroom.

 

“Raven, we need to talk,” He told her, half dragging her outside.

 

Once they were outside, he cut pretty much straight to the point; “Raven, I love you, but I can’t hurt you, so we have to break up.” Despite being intoxicated, these were words he had meant to say for a long time.

 

She paused, “Wait, what?”

 

“Yeah, I wanted to say it at school that day, I wanted to say it at that picnic, because I will hurt you, and I can’t, so we have to break up.” He nodded, disappearing inside.

 

Raven froze for a minute, tears on the brink of shedding, before she headed over to her car, scrambling to get the key in the ignition and taking off.

 

…

 

Erik didn’t remember much of the night, but he woke to his cell phone ringing for at least the tenth time, and decided not to ignore it anymore.

 

“Hello?” He said groggily.

 

“Hello, is this Erik Lehnsherr?” Asked the person on the other end.

 

“Yes,” He sat up, rubbing his eyes.

 

“Yes, Mr. Lehnsherr, you were listed as an emergency contact for a, Raven Darkholme?” Erik woke up fully from this.

 

“What happened?” He asked, fear creeping into his voice.

 

“Yes, Mr. Lehnsherr, the hospital is doing everything we can...”

 

The person went on to explain that Raven had been driving last night, agitated and intoxicated, and had run her car off into a ditch. She was on life support, not having regained consciousness, and not looking likely to ever.

 

After the call was over, Erik just sat on his bed, staring at his phone with disbelief.

 

This wasn’t happening. It was Erik’s fault both family members had been injured.

 

He knew he needed to be mature about it though, and go see her in the hospital.

 

So he grabbed his keys and his wallet, shoving it carelessly into the pocket of the first pants he found and throwing it on along with a random T-shirt.

 

He rushed outside and drove up to the hospital, wondering on the way if Charles had been informed.

 

Then again, why would they tell Erik and not Charles?

 

He shrugged the thought away as he pulled into the hospital parking lot.

 

He parked quickly and ran up to the intimidating building.

 

“Hi, I’m here to see Raven Darkholme?” He told the receptionist.

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She shook her head, “Room Seven A, you don’t lose hope there.” She tsked at him.

 

Erik shot the woman a sharp glare before proceeding to the room.

 

There was Raven, still in her blonde form, hooked up to so many machines.

 

He reached her, sitting carefully in the seat next to the bed.

 

He sat there for a good part of the day, until suddenly there was all kinds of loud beeping and things.

 

Doctors rushed in, ushering Erik out of the room as he heard the flatlining. He heard defibrillators charge and set, as he stood anxiously.

 

His breathing was hard, his heart thumped in his chest and he shook.

 

He saw a doctor through the small window on the door shake his head.

 

Erik could swear his heart stopped in his chest. Time seemed to slow down. Everything seemed surreal, like a dream. This couldn’t possibly be real.

 

He jerked back to reality, though time wouldn’t sync up quite. Everything was moving just a little bit too slow, as he caught one last glimpse of his friends body before everything went black.

 

…

 

When he woke, he was sitting in the chair outside the room Raven had been in.

 

A nurse sat beside him, fanning him, which he would guess wasn’t working too well, considering the beads of sweat on his face.

 

She was eager to explain when he woke. “Easy,” She warned. “You blacked out from stress, right after your girlfriend…”

 

Erik’s eyes drifted to the younger mutant, probably cold by this point, lying in the hospital bed.

 

Raven Darkholme was dead.

 

He closed his eyes, thinking through it. She was dead, and it was his fault. Oh my god, he killed Raven.

 

He started having a panic attack, a familiar feeling to him, and he just tried to breathe, turning back to the nurse and opening his eyes, “Thank you…” He told her, standing to go look at Raven closer.

 

When he reached out and grabbed her hand, it started to turn blue, and, as a chain reaction, she started reverting completely to her natural form.

 

He almost smiled at the change, as tears brimmed his eyes. He heard someone shut the door, and suddenly wondered why Charles wasn’t here.

 

He decided to ask him himself.

 

He pulled out his phone and dialed Charles’ number from when they were friends.

 

Doo-daa-dee. The number you have reached cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again.

 

Annoyed, Erik realised he would have to go to his house to get Charles down here, and he sure as hell wasn’t gonna deal with that now.

 

The rest of the day was kind of a blur, he stayed with Raven for a while but they had to take the body eventually, and her brother never did show up.

 

…

 

The next day, Erik decided he needed to go to school, knowing how easy it would be to just lay in his bed and do nothing.

 

When it came to lunch he was greeted with an interesting surprise.

 

There, in the spot where Charles had sat alone for the past few months, falling apart looking like a certified druggie, was Charles, but there was something different; his hair was clean cut, slicked back. He looked like he had showered, shaven, and… He looked like he had when they had met. Minus his bouncy air about him, but he sure as hell looked better than before.

 

When he spotted Erik, he came out from behind the table, in a wheelchair, and quickly headed over to his old friend, looking nervous.

 

Erik was at a loss for words, just staring as the younger mutant wheeled toward him.

 

“Erik,” He looked at him intensely with his piercing blue eyes. “Have you seen Raven?” He asked, attempting to hide the worry that edged his voice.

 

This question jerked Erik out of his daze. “Wait, you didn’t hear?” Suddenly, Charles’ absence at the hospital made sense; she had probably thought him unfit and changed Erik to her emergency contact. Charles didn’t know his sister was dead.

 

“Erik,” Charles said slowly, “What happened to Raven?” He didn’t meet the older teens eyes.

 

“We were at a party,” He clenched his jaw, bracing for the impact. “Maybe we should go outside…” He wondered.

 

Charles complied quickly.

 

Once they were alone, Erik forced down the lump that was forming in his throat.

 

“We were at a party,” He continued, taking a shaky breath. “We had some… Drinks,” He knew Charles was smart enough to figure what ‘drinks’ meant, “We had a fight… She drove home, or, most of the way... She was wasted…”

 

Charles took a moment to understand what the older mutant meant, before sinking his face into his hands.

 

He sat there through the bell, and Erik decided to  stay with him, just in case something happened.

 

After about three minutes, Erik tried to explain,“I guess… I guess she made me her emergency contact, and that-”

 

“No shit Sherlock…” Charles muttered, trying to keep his voice steady but failing to disguise the effort put into breathing levelly.

 

Erik clenched his jaw, making a decision that he was glad he hadn’t this morning.

 

He gestured Charles to stay there, figuring he wasn’t going anywhere anyway, went into the now empty lunchroom, grabbed Charles backpack (which he’d left at the table), and went back outside with two words for Charles; “We’re leaving.”

 

Charles looked up, a pained, straining expression on his face, but grabbed his bag and complied.

 

The two left the school without technically checking out, but it hardly mattered; Erik was eighteen and Charles’ stepdad couldn’t care less.

 

They went to their old spot, and just sat.

 

They sat in silence for about a half of an hour before Charles recovered enough to speak. “Erik,” He said slowly, focussing on something in the distance. “We can’t not be friends.” He decided.

 

Erik clenched his jaw, but kept himself silent to allow Charles to speak.

 

“We have been through too much,” He bit his lip, “To not at least be friends.” He looked down to the taller mutant who sat on the grass.

 

Erik closed his eyes, before coming to a resolve, as much as it pained him. “Charles,” He shook his head, “We can’t ‘just be friends’ either. There will always be something there, no matter how hard we try to pretend there isn’t. It will never be okay between us, and I can’t keep pretending and trying to make it okay. I can’t try to make you okay. And while it hurts me to say this, Charles, you were more messed up even then me all along, and I can’t deal with that; goodbye, Charles.” He clenched his jaw and pushed back tears, as he stood and left the younger mutant alone in the park.

 

…

 

Erik didn’t go to school the next day. He was completely, emotionally drained. He was done with people completely.

 

He sat around his house, pretty much doing nothing, until his phone rang.

 

“Hello?” He said, annoyed, and not having bothered to check who it was.

 

“Erik, you need to turn on the news, right now.”  Came Azazel’s urgent voice.

 

Annoyed, Erik turned on the TV, flipping to the news channel.

 

“And in other news,” Came the reporters voice, “Heir to the Xavier millionaire fortune, Charles Xavier reportedly took his own life at some point last night, leaving a note, for his step father and step brother…”

 

Erik couldn’t believe his ears, sitting silently where he was, staring blankly at the television.

 

He couldn’t even begin to process what had just happened.

 

Raven was dead. Charles was dead. It was his fault for both.

 

“Erik?” Azazel was still on the line.

 

Erik couldn’t even piece his thoughts together enough to respond.

 

“Erik!” Azazel sounded more concerned.

 

He still couldn’t respond. He just stared at the TV as he began to hyperventilate.

 

“Erik, dear,” Came Emma’s voice over the line, “Calm, your mind.”

 

A wave of calming emotions came over Erik, but he couldn’t be completely okay. He never would be again.

 

“Erik, honey, I’m coming over.” She told him, before hanging up.

 

He sat, in shock, for about twenty minutes before Emma arrived, taking the liberty to let herself in.

 

“Erik? Darling?” She called, before finding him sitting there on the couch.

 

“Erik,” She said calmly, “I know what we can do to fix this-”

 

“I don’t want to remember him.” Erik told her, clenching his jaw.

 

“Erik, I want you to really think about-”

 

“No,” He cut her off again, “I don’t want the last two years. You’re a telepath, right? If you want to fix this, I don’t want to remember Charles or Raven or Azazel-”

 

“Okay.” She gave in to the rambling teen. “Okay hon,” She scooted toward him, resting her fingertips on his temples, and did just as he had asked; he let go of every memory, happy or sad, of Charles Xavier and Raven Darkholme.

 

**THE END.**

 

 


End file.
